Full Transcript: Coach Hoke Postgame

The GoBlueWolverine Staff

04/17/2011

Head Coach Brady Coach on what went well and not so well yesterday.

Brady Hoke: "As far as today, it was good to be out in some adversity as far as weather with wind and I would like to have it rain for a while, 1) you guys would have run for cover, secondly (laughter) … no it was good to be out. It was kind of like a fall day. There were a lot of things that were good and we'll see on the tape and I think it is always when you evaluate and you got to go to the tape first and some things obviously we need to correct, need to get better, we need to coach better. We made some baby steps and at times bigger steps during the spring, but we got a long way to go. Our summer is going to be awfully important as a team and the gains we need to make strength wise and the gains we need to make as far as techniques and the fundamentals that you need to play the game with. We're glad we don't open up tomorrow, I can tell you that."

Question: Did you kind of enjoy having a defensive flavor to this game?

Brady Hoke: "I'm a defensive coach so that is always an important aspect but as a head coach you try to play that middle of the road and maybe I don't play that as well as I would like to. It was good to see some of the guys on defensive, some of the guys step in there. Ryan (Van Bergen) didn't go at all today. He got a little boo-boo on Thursday and he couldn't go. He tried, but it just wasn't good enough. It was good to see other guys step up. It was good to see some active guys. We had some pressure at times that I thought was pretty good and you don't like the long run, that can't happen. Mike (Cox) did a nice job and not taking for how it was blocked or anything else, but you cannot give up big plays if you want to be successful as a defense and unfortunately we did that."

Question: You've been spending time with the SAMs, can you talk about Jake Ryan, obviously he was real active today and how he has progressed.

Brady Hoke: "I think Jake probably as much as anybody and I'm going to have to say Cam (Gordon) too, a new position for Cam and really kind of a new position for Jake and I thought they've both have had good springs. They'll be the first to tell you that there is a heck of a lot more that they need to do and will do because they both love the game and if you don't love the game, it's too hard. They both love it. When Jake is on the field, he adds a little something out there, you can just feel it. There is an intensity. I think both of those guys have had good springs."

Question: Was that scrimmage physical enough for you?

Brady Hoke: "No, never will be. I'll be honest with you. We've got to be a physical football team, no."

Question: With Denard having some center exchange issues and accuracy issues was that not indicative of the spring that he had?

Brady Hoke: "He had two balls that were really well thrown that were dropped. We forget about that part of it and he had the exchange. He banged up his hand a little bit when he went the one exchange before the fumble. Like anything else, it is a mechanic and guys working together and all that. I don't know what happened. I don't know if he was not in enough or he came out too soon or the snap didn't get up. When you're working through and when (Dave) Molk was in there, they didn't have any problems. Dave got out and let Rocko (Khoury) and Joey (Burzynski) do most of the center play the rest of the time and that is when we had a couple of problems."

Question: Do you like what you're seeing from (Mike) Martin when you're moving him around in different roles?

Brady Hoke: "Yeah. He can give you a lot of… just like offense, the playmaker has got to have the ball and on defense you've got to put guys who can make plays in position to make plays. There are some things that Mike does as well as anybody that we want to do a good job with and see exactly what he can do. You're still in some degree experimenting a bit with where the strength of your team is and what can be most effective. He does a pretty good job in there because you got a guy coming off the edge now, they even have to slide a back to protect that's not a whole lot of fun."

Question: What has Greg Brown done to get as much time as he did today as a true freshman?

Brady Hoke: "The one thing I can tell you is that he has improved every week. Last Saturday, he made two really nice plays for a corner being out there on an island. I think Greg has got a bright future. I would say the other thing is you got Troy (Woolfolk) out and you got (JT) Floyd out, so there has been an opportunity and sometimes when there is an opportunity and a guy comes in there and competes, he may just win it."

Question: Mike Cox looked pretty good today. What have you seen from him this spring and has he really stepped up?

Brady Hoke: "I thought he had a really good day today. The one thing that hurt Mike a little bit during the spring is that on Tuesday he has a class and so he missed a lot of reps, a lot of teaching, a lot of things that will hold you back a little bit, but I thought his patience was pretty good and I thought he hit the hole pretty well a couple of times."

Question: How do you like the running back situation and how do you feel about it at the end of the spring?

Brady Hoke: "I don't think we're where we need to be yet. We'll have a great competition I know in fall camp. We're not where we need to be by far at any position."

Question: Can you talk a little bit about the team meeting and how it went last night and talk about how important it is this summer is for the players, what will be your general plan this summer and what will be big and important for you?

Brady Hoke: "A few things. The summer, number one that a team has to show to each other and your leadership that part of it because of rules and the NCAA, you really find out about your team and you find out about their accountability to each other and find out about the respect for each other, find out about their love for each other and that's to be seen. We'll know a lot more first of August of where we're going to be. The toughness issues that you can compete with in the weight room and what we do in conditioning, those things are all very important."

Question: What was the feeling walking back out on the field with Michigan fans around, hearing the band, it has been a few years since you've been able to do that.

Brady Hoke: "It was great band. The band is awesome. You cannot not love the Michigan band, but it was great. To me it was a practice day. Believe me, I wish we could have run six more plays. Because of depth a little bit, we didn't have that opportunity, but it would have been nice to play a little more football."

Question: Going back to last night, what was your message last night and how did you feel?

Brady Hoke: "It was great. It was great. A great group of guys who care about Michigan and guys who have obviously have represented Michigan and we just talked about the traditions and legacy of what Michigan is in the 132 years that we're going on this year for Michigan football and how everybody is important. I told them that they are not always going to agree with what we do and that is okay and I really don't care, but we're going to make decisions and move for Michigan."

Question: How do you assess your field goal kickers after this scrimmage?

Brady Hoke: "For me, because we were rotating them in I couldn't tell you who was kicking besides when (Brendan) Gibbons was in because he is left footed. To be honest with you, weren't as accurate as we need to be and we weren't as good as we needed to be. I can assess it that way. That's a whole mechanic that we've got to keep working on and it is like anything else, thank goodness it is not September 3rd."

Question: How did you get through health wise and barring anything unforeseen in the summer, do you expect to be ready to go for fall camp?

Brady Hoke: "I thought we got through spring pretty good especially with a limited amount of offensive lineman and a limited amount of defensive lineman. I think those guys and that's a credit to Jerry Montgomery and Darrell Funk on toughness that there guys understand they are going to have to play with and the physical-ness that it's football and all those things. I was quite pleased and I think we'll be…I can't think of anybody who wouldn't be with us unless something happens in the fall."